Iran Mixes Nuclear Defiance with Offer of Talks

Gareth Smyth, The Financial Times:

Iran on Friday made a two-edged response to US and European threats to press for its referral to the UN security council over its nuclear programme. Manouchehr Mottaki, the foreign minister, offered Europe a choice between a “continuation of talks” with Iran’s “clear and explicit explanations” or the “end of co-operation”, in a statement released by the official IRNA news agency that bore all the hallmarks of leadership consensus, .

Mr Mottaki said referral to the security council would lead Iran to stop “voluntary measures” and end its current acceptance of snap inspections from UN nuclear monitors. Mr Mottaki stopped short of saying Iran might withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, which allows a basic level of UN inspection.

The foreign minister called on Europe to exercise “patience” and to “separate the issue of research”, which Iran resumed earlier this week, from “fuel production”, the widescale enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel, which Iran continues to suspend.

He said Iran was ready to continue talks not just with Europe but also with Russia, China and non-aligned countries. Iran has a meeting scheduled in Moscow next month to review a Russian proposal to enrich uranium outside Iran as a means of overcoming international fears Tehran could use atomic material for a weapons programme.

Mr Mottaki’s statement came after US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, on Thursday played down fears that any international sanctions against Iran would harm the Iranian population.

A long-standing US embargo has already denied Iran spare parts of civilian aircraft, blocked much technology, and complicated international banking arrangements for businesses and individual.

Ms Rice argued that America was concerned to target the regime, and gave assurances that scholars, musicians and athletes - a reference to Iran’s World Cup football team - would not be penalised, as the US joined the three leading European powers in announcing their determination to refer Tehran to the United Nations Security Council over its plan to begin uranium enrichment. READ MORE